Reflected perceptions (welcome to the public eye)

This was an email I sent to Bethan's Queen's Guard. As referenced, it applies particularly strongly to peer/student relationships.

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My Lords and Lady,
I speak to you now on a subtle point regarding how to maintain the populaces' regard for our merry band and our Queen. This is not an admonishment to anything witnessed thus far as twelfth night was exemplary, rather it is a sharing of knowledge in line with what I take my responsibility to be to you all.
Some of you may be aware of this, hopefully those of you linked in a peer/student relationship are definitely aware of this, but in my experience leaving things unsaid on an assumption of knowledge is fraught with danger.

Reflected perceptions is simply that the behaviour of one, reflects on all. To a certain degree, you are no longer just an individual, you are now a "member of the Queen's guard" . This means that people will take more notice of you and either judge you against their pre-conceived ideas or fill in a mental blank with your observed behaviour. In either case, you are an ambassador for all of the other members of the guard, myself and to some extent Her Majesty.

This lesson is one that I have seen new Peers learn the hard way. Most often they are Peers due to their strong self-confidence, but at some point, they will be the first Pelican/Laurel/Knight that some newcommer meets. If they are anything less than courteous, that newcommer will label all members of that order as bad people. They may even label all peers or even the whole SCA (as peers are the perceived cultural leaders) negatively.

Hence, I entreat you to think on and choose your behaviour in this context. I do not think it will be too hard for you, as you have been recommended and chosen due to a combination of positive virtues. So be yourself and be ready to take a deep breath when you feel frustration or spite tempt you. And as we are all in this boat together, if you need guidance on avoiding or correcting a faux pas, either talk to each other or me.

warmest regards,
Sir Blayney

Functional Fitness

I subscribe to the philosophies of fitness described by Matt Furey (mattfurey.com)
More than just his combat conditioning exercises, I like the definition and goal of functional fitness as he describes it "Do you have the speed, strength, agility and endurance to get yourself out of a life threatening situation?" Can you swim in your clothes, climb a steep slope, climb a rope, run to catch something or get away? Basically, do you have the strength to move your own body where you need it to go?

This naturally meshes well with his exercise philsophy of calisthenics: exercises where the only resistance comes from your own body weight.
His three key exercises, or "Royal Court" as he calls them, are a great minimum if they are the only "exercise" you do. They work well as they build strength and flexibility through your whole body and particularly the core. Done with the right breathing (the only way you'll get enough endurance to do lots of them) it also gives a good cardio work-out.
The three exercises are:
Hindu Squats, Hindu Push-ups and back-bridge. He sells this for a living so go buy the instructional book or DVD (DVD is better) or ask me to show you one-on-one. Apparently it's very much like "Farmer Burns" as well.

I've found I don't have a lot of time or motivation for extended training at the end of the day so after trial and error I found that I can reliably motivate myself to do a short set every morning when I first get up. It also has the added advantage of waking me up and making me feel relaxed and energised to face the day (gotta love those endorphins).
Rather than trying to do lots, I focus on just reliably doing it. Each morning I set a goal of how many I feel I can do. Most mornings I just do 20-20-20 (20 breaths of squats, pushups and bridge). If I feel a bit off colour, I set my goal lower, but I always make myself hit my goal unless I fall on my face or pass out.

I recently worked out that doing a single set leads to tightening and cramping of muscles after the exercise. So I now do two sets of 15 push-ups and squats instead of the original one set of 20.

For SCA combat I found that I wanted a bit more oblique abdominal workout so I've incorporated a set of 20 knee-to-elbow crunches. I also find this quicker breathing exercise really shakes the cobwebs out and picks the heart rate up.

It's all about the breathing. If you ever find yourself unable to do one or all of the exercises, sit or stand somewhere and breathe as if you were doing them. You can maintain or even improve on poor fitness just by doing focussed breathing.

Uther's Training Notes

Uther's School

1. Philosophy
1.1 What's your goal?
You've probably spent a lot of time and money getting where you're at infighting, so why are you doing it? What do you want to get out of it? Pick a goal that's a stretch but is achievable. Make sure it's specific and not broad in description.
Now, how are you going to know you've reached your goal or some milestone on the way? How can you measure it discretely/specifically?
Good goals often take the form: "I want to go four rounds in major tourney's, irrespective of who is in the lists". This is great because you've got the specific target of "4", you've made it a stretch by not giving yourself an excuse in the form of "I would have got to four except I fought Duke Hotstick". And lastly, there's easy milestones of getting past 2 rounds, then getting past 3 rounds.

1.1.1 What's beyond your goal?
When you're approaching a goal, look beyond it to see what interests you and what may become your next goal. Too often people achieve some great goal but the stop, confused about "what's next?". This can lead to lots of problems and a loss of enjoyment from reaching the original goal.

1.2 Advancing your fight
Develop and train so that each shot puts you further ahead of your opponent.
Throw shots that set you up for a blocking return and/or roll straight into another valid attack. It should not leave you exposed or off balance to your opponent after you have thrown it, basically do not count on it landing.
Don't throw dead end shots that take a full beat or more to recover. A good shot always sets up your next attack, it does not require a full reset.

1.3 Thinking in terms of an engagment
Sometimes you'll end up in a position where your opponent keeps getting through. The answer is not always to block quicker, instead change your engagement or shots thrown, or timing of when thrown, or steps beforehand or something, so that you don't end up there in the first place.

1.4 Timing and rhythm
Instead of setting up a "my turn, your turn" fight, break the rhythm at some point and get a half beat ahead. This can be easily done by pausing a half beat rather than trying to quickly do two shots. Changing how you return your sword also can change your timing without slowing your flow down.

2 Foundation Training (done alone)
Once you can throw a snap and wrap without hurting yourself, set up a pell and a regular and frequent time that you can work on it. In your mind label the 6 main target areas with 1 to 6. (head, body, leg - onside & offside).
Now throw shots in pairs at the targets in the order;
1/1,1/2,1/3,1/4,1/5,1/6,2/1,2/2,2/3...6/4,/6/5,6/6.
Go slow. Do not hit hard. Did I say go slow. Anyone can bounce/pound a stick around a pell in a sloppy manor. You should be able to feel if you can throw a shot hard or not, try it full power if you are unclear. Do not spend your time pounding the pell, it should be a smooth whack not a full power shoot.
This exercise trains you to be able to throw to the open target, not just throw the easiest shot. You should be able to throw from any target to any other target. It has the added advantage of being a focussed exercise at the end of which you've thrown 72 shots in a much more fun way than just 72 head snaps.
After you have this down perfectly, step and move around the pell, make sure you change the range, as you throw the shots, like you might when trying to get an angle on a real opponent. Mix it up, try different things, give yourself permission to get it wrong so that you know what won't work and why.

3 Trigger Drills (done with a partner as slow work with sword/shield/helm*)
Face each other in stance and at comfortable attack range. Nominate who will be assistant and who trainee.

3.1 Single shot trigger drill
Assistant throws a shot slowly and pauses at point of contact.
Trainee blocks shot and pauses to see what targets are now open.
Throw that shot (assistant doesn't block) and reflect on it's merits and problems.
Reset.
Assistant throws same shot as before and pauses at point of contact.
Trainee blocks shot and asks self (or trainer asks) "What else is open and
what's better?"
Throw that shot and reflect on it's merits and problems.
Reset and repeat until you can't think of any different methods to engage the attack (see 1.3)
Choose one form of engagment and drill it three times without the pause to think. This is so the counter-attack is mentally locked in.

3.2 Two shot trigger drill
Same as above for setup.
Trainee throws first shot.
Assistant blocks and counters with a typical shot.
Trainee blocks and then assesses and practices a second/follow-through shot.
Reflect on the merits of the engagement and try something different ("What else? What's better?")
Note: When the trainee throws a different opening shot, the assistant can change their counter-attack.

3.3 Combined 1&2 Shot drill
If you are doing this with evenly matched fighters, there is the opportunity in the 2 shot drill for the assistant to also have a pause and try something different, as if it was the 1 shot drill. However, they need to relatively quickly pick something and then do that repeatedly for a while so that the primary trainee can actually achieve the end result of the two shot drill. If one of you finds this confusing or you get too excited at the possibilities and lose focus of the intent of the drill, STOP and go back to the simple form of trainee and assistant. Just change roles frequently so you both have a chance at trying things.

Over time this should work in to a fast but controlled rhythm, always wear a helmet. Be sure to touch the target with your shot, each time you throw it. FOLLOW THROUGH AND DO A COMPLETE RETURN TO STANCE EVERY TIME.

Addendum
*Slow work and wearing a helm
Uther only ever trains slow work while wearing a helm for two reasons. Firstly it allows you to finish the shot against a target rather than training yourself to pull short. Also, after witnessing a good friend lose the vision in one eye from the tip of a rattan sword scratching into the lens, he came to the realisation it's just not worth the risk. Eyes work as a pair, and you've only got one pair with no chance for replacement. If you are in the situation that there is only one helm, make sure there is one very experienced fighter. The helm goes on the trainer as the trainee doesn't have the sword control to not jab them in the eye, plus the trainee is the one that needs the base training of finishing a shot against the target.

Communication - courteous and effective

One of the key things in sailing smoothly through life is making communication between yourself and others as painless and easy as possible.

Tip 1 - Always acknowledge receipt of a communication.
If they want you to do something that you agree with even just a reply of "ok" is fine.
If you need to talk about it before doing or not doing it, but you can't talk now, then "need to talk about it, will call you later" is perfectly reasonable.
(Note: I've put this in the abrupt style of an SMS, because it's the briefest and most easily mis-interpretabale form of communication used)
Often we send things into the ether via email or SMS and have no way of knowing if they've been received until we get feedback. Many people just assume it got through and then get shirty when the recipient hasn't done the thing requested. Save yourself the angst and follow-up if you don't get a response, and give them the benefit of the doubt, don't just assume they're blowing you off. If you are the recipient, save yourself the stress of being "harassed" and just send a response quickly.

Tip 2 - A basic communication, usually a request for some information, should have three steps.
- Request for info/thing
- Supply of info/thing (see tip 1)
- Confirm receipt and whether it was or wasn't what you needed
The third step is important, especially if the person sending you the info is a friend or otherwise cares that they've been able to help you. Invest in some good karma and don't make them stress. Or if you don't care about that, save yourself future hassle by not training people to assume that info has gotten through.